beautiful attendant on the purest conceptions of genius, but also for the reproduction of it in action. Consequently, there are advantages of personal appearance, as well as of intellectual capacity and emotional habits, without which success is not to be hoped for by the actor. So diverse are the faculties called for in tragic and comic characters, that few actors are found equally competent to both. Were it possible to ascertain precisely and fully all the conception of the poet, it might be laid down as the utmost boundary of histrionic art to reproduce that conception glowing in its original magnitude and delicacy of coloring; but, as ordinary language is inadequate to communicate so completely the beautiful imaginings of a highly poetic mind, and barely gives brief and fragmentary indications of them, it becomes necessary for the actor to possess a quick and accurate apprehension of the import of such indications, and a keen sensibility to the most delicate shades of emotion, and even to be himself a poet, in order to supply by intonation, look and gesture, much that words have failed to convey. Consequently, the highest object of the art is not a mere reproduction of the ordinary acceptation of the poet's words, but to represent the ideal perfection of that particular degree and tone of thought and feeling therein indicated; not, indeed, by adding to the poet's words, though even that is not entirely forbidden-but by filling out their meaning, and perfecting it, through those varieties of intonation, countenance and gesture- those accelerations and suspensions of utterance natural to the state of mind represented, and sometimes, also, by omitting or laying little stress upon what the poet has improperly introduced. One of the most difficult things in the art is to seize upon the proper degree of emotion. It is not the most violent exhibition of passion which is most affecting; but that perfect propriety which adapts itself precisely to the circumstances and supposed exciting cause-and this involves the consideration of different temperament, of race, nation, education, age and clime. Herein are the force, originality and genius of an actor manifested; and all the accessories of the art, as scenery, music, stage-machinery, etc., are to be valued only as they forward the same chief end. True acting is a living commentary upon the poet, as well as a full translation of his thoughts into action. It follows that, though men of low character may entertain the low and immoral among the audience, and pass for good actors, in ordinary parts, none but those of righteous principle and elevated soul can possibly perform the part of a pure and lofty personage to the approbation of a correctly appreciating audience. The low morals of actors inevitably drag down the stage to their own level. A debauchee may act the part of a saint, but it will be as a hypocrite, by merely mimicking a few externals, to the disgust of all spectators whom it can be an honor to please; nor less, when a man of vile heart attempts to represent a hero, does every discriminating eye see that the thing personated is only a hollow blackguard, and avert itself in loathing. The audience, which otherwise would give respectability and support to the stage, withdraw from it, preferring to read the poet by their own firesides to having the sensibility offended by histrionic hypocrisy, misconception and vulgarity. The necessary consequence of moral corruption in the actors, is shallow acting of all the characters of the drama which are most interesting to a virtuous audience-travesty of all the best personages of tragedy the thinning of that class of spectators who give respectability to public entertainments, and the consequent recourse of the stage to low comedy and farce-sinking still lower and lower, to suit the taste of the vicious rabble. The state of society which calls for and sustains a good theater, is that wherein a high degree of intellectual activity and prevalent poetic taste coëxist with scanty means of information, few books and few readers-ingredients that can seldom come together except in the earlier part of a language's literary history. The maturing refinement of Athens, ere books had accumulated to meet the demands of her fully awakening intellect, gave birth to the greatest tragedians of the ancient world, and the most virtuous drama. Dramatic poetry was never popular in Rome, save in the days of her youthful civilization; and the same is true of the French and English languages. The reign of Elizabeth and of James I. was the true age of the English drama. Later efforts to revive it, though sustained by much talent, have been only partially successful. It has never recovered the dignity it then assumed, although the greatest actors, as far as art is concerned, have flourished since that time. It no longer represents the spirit of the age, nor satisfies any want of the better part of society. Books have increased, not only to meet all demand, but even to exceed any capacity to devour, at the same time that the degraded moral character of actors, in general, shuts them out from the only means of gratifying that kind of audience which would take pleasure in the higher efforts of their profession. Campbell, Philosophy of -Quintilian, Institutiones Oratorica. Rhetoric. Whateley's Elements of Rhetoric. Historique. Arnold's Lectures on History. -article, History. F. Schlegel, Lectures on Philosophy of History. John Q. Adams, Lectures on Oratory. Horace, Art of Poetry. Boileau, Art Poetique. Pope, Art of Criticism. Pemberton, Observations on Epic Poetry. Moir's History of Poetry. Schlegel's Lectures on Dramatic Literature. Coleridge's Lectures on Shakspeare. CONCLUSION. From the above brief definitions of the principal branches of art, the limits of æsthetic science must be sufficiently clear. It is that department of mental philosophy which treats of human feelings, as far as they are conducive to beauty, and of intellections, in as far as they give rise to feelings of that kind, as well as of external objects, in as far as they are the signs, conditions, or occasions of such feelings. The relations of modern art to society are unprecedented, and full of obscure but lofty promise. In 284 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF ÆSTHETICS. earlier times, high intellectual culture, and consequently, good taste, were confined to certain orders or professions: the masses were uneducated and incompetent. The works of Egypt were produced by a caste of priests, who perpetuated the necessary instruction among themselves: those of Greece, by a professional few, in the service of their mythology; and those of reviving Europe, under the patronage of the popish priesthood, and, in some cases, even by secret societies of artists. Printing, and the Reformation, with their universal diffusion of knowledge, have wrought a change in this matter-a change which is still in progress, not in all cases for the better, so far, it must be confessed; architecture, painting, and statuary, especially, are in the present day in a woeful state of chaos and indecision. Some, looking back to the lofty and well defined purpose and masterly execution of former times, are turning their hopes to a revival of exclusive fraternities, as the only means of correcting the present disorder. But all such attempts are vain. History never repeats herself. We are evidently in the transition state to something greater than has yet appeared, an age of art, where no exclusive caste or profession shall dictate style-but the enlightened taste of a whole people, under the nobler moral and religious light of a pure Christianity. The transition state must necessarily be chaotic, but the elements will arrange themselves correctly in the end, and the greater their number and diversity, the higher shall be that art which effects their harmony. |
